What Do the Market Models Say (Part II)

Although the S&P 500 is just a couple points off the all-time high set on Aug. 2, there is an awful lot of chatter about stocks heading lower from here.

There really isn't much in the way of new justification for the anticipated dance to the downside as the discussions continue to focus on "taper talk," the budget showdown, the slowdown in China, the election in Germany, more woe for Greece and the fact that September has historically not been kind to the bulls.

The chartists aren't exactly upbeat either right now as there is a lot of talk about the "Hindenberg Omen(s)," the Dow's break below important support, and the potential for a head-and-shoulder top forming on the S&P 500. And mentioned in yesterday's missive, it just feels like something bad is going to happen.

So, given the fact the summer doldrums have definitely arrived, this is a good time to examine the key market models.

To review, the Weekly Environment Model is comprised of 10 individual inputs, which can be broken down into the categories of tape, trend, sentiment, economic, monetary and the overall risk environment. As stated Monday, the majority of the model weight is given to tape and trend indicators (60 percent) while the "external" factors account for 40 percent of the model.

This is due to the view that the price/tape action of the market should be the final decider during important market moves and act as a solid stop-loss when things get funky.

In Monday's missive, the tape and trend indicators were reviewed, which were positive and neutral, respectively. Thus, Tuesday morning, the sentiment, economic and monetary components as well as the risk environment indicators contained in the weekly market environment model will be examined.

The Economic Model

Believe it or not, the stock market is not always driven by the state of the economy. This is especially true during the expansion phase of the economic cycle. However, when the economy is making a turn, stock traders tend to focus heavily on the outlook for the economy. On that note, it is important to recognize that it is the outlook going forward that the stock indices tend to discount and not what the data says is happening at the present time.

This economic model is comprised of 15 economic indicators. Although the model does produce buy and sell signals, it is better to utilize the model readings or modes. The key to this approach is there should be a sizable disparity between the positive and negative readings. For example, when the economic model is very positive (i.e. readings above 80 percent), the S&P 500 has gained ground at an annualized rate of nearly 24 percent per year over the past 48 years.

On the other end of the spectrum, when the model reading is very negative, the S&P has lost 23 percent per year. A similar spread can be seen when the model is moderately positive and moderately negative (up 11.1 percent per year versus down 9.0 percent per year). As such, this model is a nice addition to our environment model.

The current reading for the economic model is low neutral. However, it should be noted that the reading is less than 1 percent away from a moderately negative reading this week.

The Monetary Model

The saying "don't fight the Fed" was originally designed as a reminder to investors to stay in tune with the overall direction of interest rates. Of course, that was before the invention of ZIRP, QE and the rest of the alphabet soup of acronyms used to describe today's monetary policy actions by central bankers around the world.

While there have definitely been periods of time in history where it has paid to go contrary to the general direction of rates, including the monetary environment as in input to a stock market model will help more often than not. The monetary model employed is a true "model of models" as there are eight inputs to the monetary model, with several of the inputs being groups of indicators or models themselves.

Like the economic model, the monetary model is used on a "mode" basis, meaning the model is rated positive, neutral, or negative. Over the past thirty years, when the monetary model has been positive, the S&P 500 has advanced at a rate of more than 25.4 percent per year. But when the model has read negative, the S&P has fallen at a rate of 8 percent per annum.

The current reading of the monetary model is neutral. History shows that stocks have performed a bit below average when the monetary model in this mode with the S&P's mean return coming in at 4.7 percent per year.

The Sentiment Model

Stock market sentiment is a tricky business. The basis behind this category of indicators is that by the time investor sentiment becomes excessive in one direction or the other, it means that investors have likely already taken action.

For example, when sentiment becomes overly positive, it is a decent bet that all those who wanted to buy stocks have already done so. Therefore, there may be less demand for stocks going forward, which, in short, means that the market is susceptible to a negative catalyst.

The indicator employed in the weekly environment model is a bit longer term in nature. This too is a "model of models" as the sentiment model employs a total of seven indicators in order to produce the model reading.

Once again, the "mode" approach is used here. The S&P has gained ground at a rate of 35.5 percent per year since 1982 when the sentiment model is positive and has lost ground at a rate of nearly 17 percent per year when the model is negative. Therefore, this is another model worth paying attention to each week.

Currently, the sentiment model is negative. In short, the component indicators suggest that there is too much optimism in this market.

The Risk Model

The final input to the Weekly Market Environment Model is a combination "model of models" that focuses primarily only the overall risk/reward environment.

Once again, a "mode" approach is used in order to give the overall Market Environment Model some teeth when it moves from positive to negative. For example, the risk environment model sports an average annualized return of 28.3 percent when positive and down 23.8 percent when negative (going back to 1982).

The current reading for the model is... neutral. And the average gain per year in this mode has been 8.1 percent per year.

Summary: When you add up all the up 1's, down 1's and 0's, the current Market Environment Model score is up 3. What's interesting is that readings of up 3 and above are positive while readings of negative 3 and below are negative. So, the model is positive this week, but just barely. Thus, there is not much room for error at the present time.

From a subjective point of view, the current reading seems about right. The overall environment is still positive, but only slightly so. Should the tape or trend weaken from here, the environment would be downgraded to neutral. And if this were to occur, it would be a sign to take less risk and wait for the environment to improve.

The important thing to remember about the reading of the weekly environment model is that it is not designed to "predict" what is going to happen next in the market. In sum, the goal is to identify what "is" happening in the current environment so that we may position our accounts accordingly.

Current Market Drivers

Success comes from understanding the driving forces behind the market action on a daily basis. The thinking is that if one can both identify and understand why stocks are doing what they are doing on a short-term basis; it is unlikely one will be surprised/blind-sided by a big move. Listed below are some of the driving forces of the current market (listed in order of importance).

1. The State of Fed/Global Central Bank Policies

2. The Outlook for the U.S./Global Economy

3. The State of the Budget (starting to come up on traders' radar screens)

The State of the Trend

It is important to analyze the market using multiple time-frames. Short-term is three days to three weeks, intermediate-term is three weeks to three months, and long-term is three months or more. Below are the current ratings of the three primary trends:

Short-Term Trend: Neutral

(Chart below is S&P 500 daily over past one month)

Intermediate-Term Trend: Positive

(Chart below is S&P 500 daily over past six months)

Long-Term Trend: Positive

(Chart below is S&P 500 daily over past 12 months)

Key Technical Areas:

Traders as well as computerized algorithms are generally keenly aware of the important technical levels on the charts from a short-term basis. Below are the important levels to watch today:

Disclaimers: GuruFocus.com is not operated by a broker, a dealer, or a registered investment adviser. Under no circumstances does any information posted on GuruFocus.com represent a recommendation to buy or sell a security. The information on this site, and in its related newsletters, is not intended to be, nor does it constitute, investment advice or recommendations. The gurus may buy and sell securities before and after any particular article and report and information herein is published, with respect to the securities discussed in any article and report posted herein. In no event shall GuruFocus.com be liable to any member, guest or third party for any damages of any kind arising out of the use of any content or other material published or available on GuruFocus.com, or relating to the use of, or inability to use, GuruFocus.com or any content, including, without limitation, any investment losses, lost profits, lost opportunity, special, incidental, indirect, consequential or punitive damages. Past performance is a poor indicator of future performance. The information on this site, and in its related newsletters, is not intended to be, nor does it constitute, investment advice or recommendations. The information on this site is in no way guaranteed for completeness, accuracy or in any other way. The gurus listed in this website are not affiliated with GuruFocus.com, LLC.
Stock quotes provided by InterActive Data. Fundamental company data provided by Morningstar, updated daily.